But tensions are mounting again, and agent Robert “Hart” Hartley-Battridge has uncovered plans that indicate someone is planning to kidnap one of their most brilliant minds—the tempestuous Karol Zieliński. Hart is only too familiar with the hotheaded, beautiful scientist. He spent years working alongside Karol, concealing his love for him, convinced he would have been just one in a string of conquests lured into Karol’s bed. Then a mission gone wrong left Hart scarred and near death, and Karol abruptly quit the Service and never approached Hart again. But the new threat is about to close the distance between them. For one day and one night, Karol will have only a single guard to watch over him, and Hart doesn’t trust anyone but himself to keep Karol safe. Twenty-four hours in the presence of the man he loves, a man he hasn’t seen in three years. Hart expects Karol to have forgotten him. But Karol remembers their every mission—especially the last. And he has a surprise for Hart so daring and unprecedented it brought danger—and Hart—back to his door. With peace and Karol’s life on the line, Hart needs to accept that he was never a conquest. That for him, Karol would change the world.

    Someone who will protect not only him, but also his secrets – and he may have found the perfect man for the task. Being a soldier is Jeffery’s life. He won’t be defined by his past, but fights for the present, not some future he will never see. Yet, his mandatory reassignment to the palace as Prince Akoni’s personal guard forces him to set aside his plans. His role places Jeffery in the presence of nobles whom he despises, and Prince Akoni is worse than most. Can two men learn to trust each other, or will the secrets they carry bring about their own demise? Will having Jeffery close to him help Prince Akoni to become King – or cause more deaths? They need to depend on each other, for the sake of the future, because if they cannot, the past will only repeat itself and neither of them will survive.

    After losing everything he held dear one fateful night, he decides to leave New York and his past behind, and joins the French Foreign Legion. But even in Algiers, Chance can't seem to shake his old ways, and he ends up being transferred to a unit made up of misfits and rabble-rousers like him-a unit he finds just in time to be captured and thrown into a cell with his new commandant, Jacky Valentine. A highly respected commandant with a soft spot for hard luck cases, Jacky is the kind of guy who would go to war for you, and the three equally troubled youths from his unit he's more or less adopted feel the same way about him. Suddenly Chance starts to think that his life doesn't have to be as desolate and barren as the wastelands around him.But even after their escape, with the promise of a future with Jacky to buoy his spirits, or maybe because of it, Chance can't stop making mistakes. He disobeys orders, lashes out at the boys in Jacky's care, and blazes a trail of self-destruction across the desert-until someone makes him realize he's hurting more than just himself.A Timeless Dreams title: While reaction to same-sex relationships throughout time and across cultures has not always been positive, these stories celebrate M/M love in a manner that may address, minimize, or ignore historical stigma.

    He and his best friend, Jasim, are thieves for hire—until one night they’re caught and their precious freedom is revoked. Given the choice between the dungeons or palace pleasure slavery, they become slaves, but Teman vows to escape someday.Bathasar doesn’t want the throne. He supports his brother instead, which suits their sadistic father, Mukesh. When Teman, the handsome slave Bathasar has secretly been watching, saves his life, Bathasar requests a slave for the first time. Before long, Bathasar and Teman fall in love. But all is not well. One day Mukesh brutalizes Teman before the court, angering the empress of a neighboring nation. To appease her, he then offers her Jasim as a gift, and Teman decides to stay with Bathasar for now—despite the abuse he may suffer.The peace doesn’t last. Mukesh plans to invade Jasim’s new country, and Bathasar must find a way to stop the destruction. But if he succeeds, he’ll ascend to the throne and have the power to grant Teman his liberty. Then Teman will surely leave him. What other choice could a gypsy make?

    When he meets the courier again in the elevator, he takes the first step that will change the rest of his life. In this story of Swan Prince meets Cinderfella, two men from different backgrounds have to find a way to counter magic and divergent lifestyles to find their happy ending.

    To protect him from himself—and to protect others from him—he spends his days heavily medicated and locked in his rooms, and his nights in darkness and solitude, tormented by visions, until a stranger appears.This apparition is different. Fox says he’s a thief and not an entirely good sort of man, yet he returns night after night to ease Arthur’s loneliness without asking for anything in return. Fox might be the key that sets Arthur free, or he might deliver the final blow to Arthur’s tenuous grasp on sanity. Either way, real or imaginary, Arthur needs him too much to care.Fox is only one of the many secrets and specters haunting Campden House, and Arthur will have to face them all in order to live the life of his dreams.

    Who is he really, and who or what is he pretending to be? What sort of trouble will his secrets cause him? I'd be grateful if you could answer these questions for me.Photo Description: With a black sky dotted in luminescent stars framing him, a beautiful young man stares into the darkness, his face concentrated, as though his thoughts are with someone else. His golden hair reveals him as a stranger in a land so very far from anything he’s known, and yet he’s comfortable in the silk kimonos draping his body. He gently holds one between his fingers, as if caressing the skin of his lover. Strings of gold and jade earrings adorn him, tokens of affection from the one he waits for now.This story was written as a part of the M/M Romance Group's "Love is Always Write" event. Group members were asked to write a story prompt inspired by a photo of their choice. Authors of the group selected a photo and prompt that spoke to them and wrote a short story.Download the story, read it online or find it in Love Is Always Write: Volume 7.

    When he's asked to look after an absent naval captain's three wild children, he reluctantly agrees, but instantly falls for the hellions. And when their stern but gloriously handsome father arrives, Ben is tempted in ways that make him doubt everything.Some of Phillip Dacre's favorite things: His shipPeople doing precisely as they're toldTouching the irresistible vicar at every opportunityPhillip can't wait to leave England's shores and be back on his ship, away from the grief that haunts him. But his children have driven off a succession of governesses and tutors and he must set things right. The unexpected presence of the cheerful, adorable vicar sets his world on its head and now he can't seem to live without Ben's winning smiles or devastating kisses.In the midst of runaway children, a plot to blackmail Ben's family, and torturous nights of pleasure, Ben and Phillip must decide if a safe life is worth losing the one thing that makes them come alive.

    As an incubus and male prostitute, it’s a cruel, dark, lonely place where men only want one thing. But when his long-time patron Byrne discovers he’s dying, Byrne offers to leave his entire fortune to him. There’s just one catch. Damon has to write about the reason why another patron procures his services. Caught up in his patron’s impossible love life, Damon suddenly isn’t so sure he knows the answer.

    Once there, he finds that not even the beauty of the island can fill the hole in his heart. Broke and spent in nearly every way imaginable, Niall wants out of the lonely, miserable, guilt-ridden life he's carved out for himself.When Ethan Bettencourt, a wealthy tech guru, shows up in British Virgin Islands looking to purchase a second home, he gives Niall hope that he can move on. Both men fall hard and fast, but Niall finds piloting his yacht in the midst of a hurricane is nothing compared to weathering life's simple misunderstandings. As their troubles come between them, Niall is left to wonder if he and Ethan are over before they've begun.

    Although they harbor a secret love, a relationship between a prince and his servant is forbidden. Things change when the king promises Theryn’s hand in an arranged marriage to the volatile Prince Lyar of the Soltaran Empire, who needs Theryn’s Light magic for some sinister religious rite. Theryn and Atrum's struggle to discover Lyar’s scheme brings them together at last, but there is more at stake than their happiness. Atrum discovers Dark magic of his own, but neither his love nor his power may be enough to save Theryn from Lyar's dangerously seductive pull. And if Atrum loses Theryn, the world as they know it may be lost as well.An epic fantasy tale of sword and sorcery, with a gay romance twist.***This book was originally published with the Goodreads MM Romance Group's Don't Read in the Closet event. This edition contains the bonus short story Endless Light, which is told from Prince Lyar's perspective.***

    After losing love and fighting addiction, he becomes a successful substance abuse counselor and helps people regardless of their insurance or ability to pay. It isn't the dream life he had in San Francisco, but at least he has something to be proud of. Everything seems to be getting back on the right track until Angel, a heroin-addicted male prostitute, crosses his path. Erik not only sees a lot of himself in Angel, but a lot of potential as well. He quickly realizes he's willing to sacrifice a lot to get him on the right path--but is he willing to jeopardize his career?

    Instead, Simon makes a split-second decision to save Robert’s life, though he is uncomfortably aware he has only postponed the inevitable.Robert quickly falls for Simon, but when he notices the way Death seems to follow him around, his curiosity about Simon’s true nature turns to suspicion, all but erasing his memories of the man. Simon must fight to make him remember… and to stop Robert from making a grisly mistake.

    And he selects the man he has been lusting after ever since sharing a secret, sensual moment at court months earlier—Benedict, the beautiful and illegitimate son of the king. At first, Benedict is reluctant to give into forbidden desires, but he cannot resist the enigmatic sorcerer’s pull. Yet when he surrenders to his lust, he’s also not sure whether it’s of his own free will or because of a spell Warin cast on him. As the men grow closer, however, they realize that when the ransom is paid, Benedict must be released and Warin must flee from punishment. Will they be able to end their passionate affair and separate, or will they fight to stay together, even if it means facing the king’s wrath?

    When an argument about nature versus nurture sparks a wager, Arthur swears to a friend he can turn this working man into a gentleman who will pass at a society function. Joe is happy to participate in the experiment for a fee but receives more than he bargained for after moving into Lawton’s house. Arthur is determined Joe won’t merely wear a veneer of sophistication but educates him in every way. As he creates his new and improved man, Arthur grows more deeply infatuated with him, while Joe falls equally hard for his charismatic mentor.Underneath a growing friendship, desire simmers and one day explodes. After their relationship escalates, the pair exists in a dream bubble until the threat of exposure sharply reminds them they belong in different worlds. When the ball is over, each must resume his own life, changed by their encounter but destined for different courses. Find out if love is strong enough to bridge the gap between peer and pauper in this twist on the tale of My Fair Lady.